Nassim Nicholas Taleb: IQ is largely a pseudoscientific swindle
Nassim Nicholas Taleb criticizes IQ as flawed, capturing extreme unintelligence and test-taking skills, not true intelligence. He questions its use in profiling countries and predicting success, advocating for a broader view of mental abilities.
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that IQ is a flawed measure, primarily capturing extreme unintelligence and test-taking skills rather than true intelligence. He criticizes the use of IQ in profiling countries and highlights the limited informational value of correlations in IQ testing. Taleb challenges the notion that IQ correlates with real-world success, pointing out the circularity in measuring achievements like wealth. He emphasizes the statistical flaws in IQ testing, questioning its validity as a scientific measure. Taleb suggests that IQ fails to predict performance in diverse real-world tasks and criticizes the overestimation of IQ's significance. He concludes that IQ is an immoral measure that can unfairly categorize individuals and groups. Taleb's critique extends to the limitations of IQ in predicting future needs and adapting to different environments. He warns against the reliance on IQ as a measure of intelligence and advocates for a more nuanced understanding of mental abilities beyond standardized testing.
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1 commentsI think he grossly undervalues naive pattern recognition. Natural complex systems are emergent from very simple interactions with mind boggling numbers. I think the {1,2,3,4,x} example is demonstrative because he doesn’t suggest what the answer should be.
I agree with him that IQ is meaningless. I think his arguments are, ironically, somewhat reductive. A man from Lebanon’s privileged elite who has surely amassed fortune along with his fame during his lifetime places financial success as the most important metric. For others it could be how much “unproductive” time they have or propensity to be vegan or the number of offspring they produce or sporting success et cetera et cetera.
So sure, IQ is useless but I think the essay just tells us a lot more about him.
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